Community Training

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Overview

A community is only as strong as its people.

At African Wildlife Foundation, we believe it’s important to provide training at the community level. Training lets local leaders manage their own lands for conservation and economic development. It also helps individuals pursue sustainable business ventures to strengthen their own lives. And, it sets the course for future, ongoing conservation at the grassroots level.

Challenges

The pressure on natural resources is intensifying.

With almost a billion people and the world’s highest population growth rate, there is a lot of pressure on Africa’s natural resources. Meanwhile, across Africa, climate change, droughts, increased demand for energy, and deforestation are creating additional challenges for communities.

These rapid changes mean that Africans must be able to adapt to new conditions in order to thrive. That’s why conservation and sustainability training is crucial.

Solutions

Our approach to training improves the lives of people as well as wildlife:

Train rangers and scouts to support anti-poaching efforts.

AWF provides funding to recruit and train locals to become rangers and scouts in Osupuko and Kilitome conservancies as well as the West Kilimanjaro region. Scouts become the first line of defense against poaching when animals roam outside of national parks and onto unprotected land. In Benin and Burkina Faso, AWF provided equipment, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) units and cameras, and training to wildlife authorities in how to use the units to record wildlife sightings, herd sizes, and other data. Serving as an example to their communities, these scouts are seen as highly competitive positions that generate additional incomes for people.

Train communities in sustainable agriculture.

The Mwandi community is located near the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth largest. Overfishing and the use of mosquito nets have led to an alarming decline of fish stock, which impacts the 100,000 people living in the nearby communities. AWF is helping Mwandi protect the Zambezi River and creating economic benefits to this impoverished area by training the community on building and maintaining an aquaculture enterprise. The integrated Mwandi Fish Farm includes more than a dozen fish ponds as well as a poultry house that can hold 1,000 chickens, a duckery, and an incubator for birds.

As in many of our priority landscapes, we are working with small farmers from 21 villages near the Kolo Hills Forests in Central Tanzania to help sustain the forests. AWF provided more than 170 farmers with improved seed varieties and fertilizer as well as training them in conservation farming techniques that will not only help produce more food and income, but help them withstand changing weather patterns.

Train communities in sustainable livestock practices.

The Livestock for Livelihoods Program is helping local communities realize they will receive better returns from livestock raised in sustainable ways. In Tanzania for example, AWF is helping improve grazing, water management, and breeding with support from partners like the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as providing local herders who use land sustainably with direct links to buyers, thereby raising their standard of living while keeping more open land available to Kenya’s wildlife.

Train people how to run successful businesses.

In Africa, women are the backbone of most families and play a big role in the management of natural resources. So, it makes sense to train them in sustainable skills that will help them earn incomes to support their families. In Rwanda, AWF has supported the Women’s Handicraft Association near Volcanoes National Park, providing training in developing new products, such as basketweaving and embroidery.

And, because access to financial credit is a huge issue, AWF established the Nasaroni Village Bank, a women’s microcredit enterprise, in Kenya. This project established lending groups and provided training so women could get financial resources to start their own businesses. Membership has grown to more than 800 members.

Projects

Learn more about our projects that train people and save communities and wildlife simultaneously.

Reason #75 to get involved

The African lion is in critical danger, with some predicting extinction by 2020. This isn't just a tragedy to the species; it would also cause major ecological problems. Help us continue crucial efforts like reducing human-wildlife conflicts that threaten the lion.

Reason #82 to get involved

Adapting to their recent human neighbors, vervet monkeys steal food and raid crops. As a result, humans mass-poison the monkeys to defend their food sources. Help is needed to establish a buffer zone so both humans and monkeys can coexist.

Reason #76 to get involved

Reason #28 to get involved

African Wildlife Foundation has helped farmers return to the Congo River as a means of finding new markets for their goods. To improve livelihoods and reduce locals’ reliance on wildlife hunting for survival, efforts like this need continued funding.

Reason #6 to get involved

Reason #21 to get involved

African Wildlife Foundation is devoted entirely to, and ever-present in, African wildlife conservation and sustainable development—recognizing and responding to critical threats in a multifaceted way. Help all of Africa, the wildlife, the communities, and the future.

Reason #78 to get involved

Reason #53 to get involved

With loss of habitat and prey, carnivores—like cheetahs and wild dogs—are hunting community livestock. As a result, farmers are forced to kill these species. African Wildlife Foundation needs support training scouts and funding bomas to protect livestock as well as negotiating buffer zones for wildlife.

Reason #26 to get involved

Reason #61 to get involved

On the brink of extinction in 1996, the West African giraffe population is now steadily growing. However, their habitat in Niger is not formally protected. African Wildlife Foundation needs support funding efforts that reduce human-giraffe conflict within these crucial ecological buffer zones.